


Focal

by KivaEmber



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Soldiers, Demons, Gen, Memory Alteration, Post-Apocalypse, Reality Bending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-16
Updated: 2013-05-17
Packaged: 2017-12-12 01:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/805496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KivaEmber/pseuds/KivaEmber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Seven years since the world ended, and humanity is on a slow march to extinction… until Captain Hibiki finds an odd phone in the middle of the battlefield…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I knew I’d find you here.”

 

Hibiki’s only response was a slight tilt of the head. He couldn’t see Yamato very well in the dark light – the red sky above was almost black with darkness, and the massive floodlight situated on the wall cast the man in a dark silhouette. Hibiki squinted as he approached, letting his helmet swing in his light grip at his side.

 

“Captain,” Yamato greeted coolly. Hibiki could see him better when he was next to him. The man was gazing out into the Wastelands, a hand on the floodlight as he moved it from side to side. Demons shied away from bright lights – especially holy light – so there was always a person managing a floodlight no matter the time of… night. It was always night though. Hibiki had forgotten what the blue sky looked like by now.

 

“Didn’t realise High Commanders did stag,” Hibiki said, resting his helmet on the wall, swiftly followed by his forearms. He was still watching Yamato, but the other man only graced his comment with a grunt.

 

Hibiki directed his gaze out onto the Wastelands. It was deathly silent as always. It always was silent. You’d expect that a land filled to the brim with demons would have shrieking or howling, or _something_. But, no, it seemed that sort of stereotypical horror was reserved for full moons – full moons that shone as bright as the floodlights and cast everything into an agonising light.

 

The full moons came every cycle, and each one brought with it a muted sort of terror. It drove demons into frenzies, urging them to throw themselves at Tokyo-2 with wild abandon. It didn’t matter if they died or lived… the only thing that mattered to demons in that state was whatever the moon told them. Hell, if they didn’t disintegrate into Magnetite upon death, Hibiki was certain that the corpses of the attacking demons would pile as high as the fifty foot walls in a single night.

 

“S’almost full,” Hibiki muttered, glancing up. The moon was fat and bright red, with only a sliver of darkness making it a bit lopsided. He shivered a bit, and smoothed his palm over the curve of his helmet. The paint was a bit chipped in some areas, and there was a shallow groove where the claws of an Orthrus had glanced off of it several cycles ago. It was still functional though – even if there was a hairline crack on the glass of the face visor. It didn’t hinder his vision, so Hibiki could live with it.

 

“Don’t you have other duties to tend to?” Yamato asked, not pausing his patrol for a moment.

 

“Not really. On standby,” Hibiki drummed his fingers on the helmet. “The peak’s going to hit in about three hours, so everyone’s told to rest.” He gave Yamato a pointed look at this, and the Commander finally looked away from the Wastelands.

 

“How long have you known me, Hibiki?”

 

“Five years, give or take,” Hibiki grinned a little. “Why am I even bothering, right?”

 

Yamato snorted a little, and the corner of his mouth tilted upwards a fraction. From the glare of the nearby floodlight, Yamato looked ill, his eyes appearing sunken from the dark shadows under them, and a deathly pallor to his skin. Hibiki knew he probably didn’t look much better. Everyone lived off of minimum rations, minimum sleep, minimum everything…

 

Hibiki’s stomach gurgled loudly at the thought of food, followed by a gnawing pain. Yeah. Minimum rations. Hibiki couldn’t remember the last time he had food that wasn’t just a tin of beans or some other processed shit dug out from the ruins of old buildings. What little land they could convert into farmland was tiny, and could only regularly feed about twenty per cent of the JP’s soldiers. The civilians weren’t even considered.

 

He understood why. If the soldiers weren’t fed, then everyone would be slaughtered. If the soldiers _were_ fed, though, then the civilians would starve and it would just be them. It left a bad taste in Hibiki’s mouth, but there was nothing they could do to change it. Not unless the wastelands suddenly bloomed into fertile land.

 

“Why even bother indeed,” Yamato murmured. It seems his thoughts went into a similar direction, his gaze turning scrutinising. Hibiki met it evenly. “How is your eye, by the way? I hope it won’t hinder your fighting abilities any?”

 

“It’s fine,” Hibiki said dismissively, pressing his hand against his right cheek. The skin there was bumped, and still a bit sensitive. “I haven’t lost my sight, if that’s what you mean. Magic’s amazing, y’know?”

 

“Hm,” Yamato said, staring at him for a moment longer before turning back to the Wastelands. Hibiki rubbed at his cheek for a moment longer before picking up his helmet, trying to angle it enough to see his reflection in the glass visor.

 

“It isn’t that bad, is it?” Hibiki asked worriedly. He couldn’t see very well in the dim light – and the glare the floodlight was giving off wasn’t helping either – but he could just about see a faint reflection. The two marks raking over his right eye stood out starkly, the flesh still pink around the taut skin. The scars stopped just halfway down his cheek.

 

“Why are you worrying about it?” Yamato asked, “The only creatures that see that face of yours are more likely to chew it off than admire it.”

 

“You _are_ talking about demons, right?” Hibiki set his helmet down, trying to smother a grin, “’Cuz I know a few girls…”

 

“Stop,” Yamato said sharply. “I don’t want to hear it.”

 

They fell silent, broken only by the quiet squeaks of the floodlight as Yamato started moving it again. Hibiki began to get a little bored, and he pressed his hands atop of his helmet, resting his chin atop of them as his eyes skimmed the Wastelands below. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Not-

 

Hold on. Hibiki saw a glimpse of something, and he abruptly straightened up, causing Yamato to still. They were both staring intently at the spot where the glimpse had been, standing to attention like a pair of hunting dogs scenting a rabbit. Yamato adjusted the floodlight by a degree and leaned forwards.

 

“What is that…?” Hibiki asked, frowning intently. He couldn’t see what it was clearly. It was quite a ways away, but when the floodlight zeroed in on it, it reflected it back like it was a metal, or a piece of glass or…

 

“It looks small,” Yamato said, straightening back up again. He looked up at the moon, as if gauging how much time they had before it became full. “Three hours, you said?”

 

“Well, probably about two now. It took me a bit to get here to tell you,” Hibiki muttered, his eyes fixed on the bright spot. He gauged the distance while Yamato gauged the time. It only took ten minutes to jump down onto the Wastelands, and would take ten minutes to jump back up. The thing was far out, but only about ten to fifteen minutes away… so at most it would take Hibiki over half an hour to go out, inspect it, and come back.

 

“I’ll go check it out,” Hibiki said, lifting his helmet and fitting it over his head. The air was artificial inside, and with a quiet click, the visor lit up, a small box of information running in the bottom left corner, a demon sensor radar at the very top (currently green), and a small targeting circle humming to attention. He focused on Yamato, the tracking circle immediately yielding the man’s vital signs. Hibiki ignored it.

 

“If you hear my horrible screams, you know it’s something dangerous.”

 

“Obviously,” Yamato said. He looked a bit disapproving, but didn’t move to stop him. Instead he picked up his own helmet from atop the wall, slotting it on over his head. The opaque visor didn’t let Hibiki see his face, but he heard the crackle of the radio hiss in his ear.

 

“ _I’ll warn you through here if I see something hostile approaching you. Be quick, Captain._ ”

 

Professional mode, then. Hibiki saluted sharply and moved to the wall. He hauled himself up on it, staring down at the world below him. Fifty feet. The drop would kill a normal person, but humanity had advanced well in these past seven years of post-apocalypse, and the battle suits were _very_ good at protecting them from otherwise dangerous situations. Like these.

 

Hibiki jumped.

 

The world rushed up towards him, and information whizzed in the small box on his visor – moving at what speeds, estimated time of impact, increasing armour shields-

 

Hibiki hit the ground. Pain lanced up his legs as he fell into a crouch, and he sat there for a long moment, waiting for the vibrating numbness to die down. His visor beeped – armour shield at 10% - and Hibiki groaned as he slowly pushed himself up on wobbly legs. Yes, battle suits were good at protecting them, but damn it still hurt like a _bitch_.

 

 _“Are you alright?”_ Yamato’s voice crackled in his ear.

 

“Y-Yeah, fuck,” Hibiki hissed, slowly limping forwards. Now where was it…? Aside from the bright beam of light from the floodlight, the ground was pitch black. The demon radar turned orange, and Hibiki watched it warily as he shuffled forwards. There was a sharp bite of pain in his calves, swiftly followed by the blissful sensation of coolness. The pain dulled into a tolerable throb, and Hibiki’s strides became less limping, and steadier.

 

“Wow, that took a moment to kick in,” Hibiki grumbled, rubbing at the side of his helmet as he broke into a small jog. He could see Yamato’s floodlight ahead of him, probably focused on the small object. The demon radar turned a darker shade of orange, bordering on red, but Hibiki kept his eyes on the prize.

 

He entered the bright circle of light, and hunted about. The angle was different here, and he didn’t immediately see what he was looking for – to be honest his attention was mostly on the demon radar, which was a mite distracting.

 

_“Go more to your left.”_

 

Hibiki obeyed the direction, and his targeting circle immediately zeroed on something on the ground. Hibiki crouched, ignoring the click in his knees, and scooped up the small object. For a moment he just stared at it dumbly, the info box presenting its findings.

 

_Cellular Device Circa 20XX. Functions include E-mail, configurable databases, phone, calendar, clock, camera, calculator, video calling, GPS function…_

 

Hibiki ignored it, carefully turning the mobile phone in his hands. It was open, and seemed to be a flip open one. Hibiki hadn’t seen these in years. Mobile phones had been such an important part of Japanese culture, especially amongst teenagers, but they fell out of use quickly enough when they required an ability to contact others without the use of their hands – hence the communication capabilities in their helmets.

 

_“What is it?”_

 

Hibiki jumped. He had almost forgotten Yamato – and the demon radar was a solid red. Ah, well, Hibiki was fine within the holy light circle. He’d just ask Yamato to track his movements back to the wall…

 

“I found a mobile phone. From Pre-Fall,” Hibiki murmured, still staring at the device. The screen was blank, and its casing was a bright blue. The screen looked like it was on its side as well… Hibiki took it, carefully slotting the screen upwards, and then closed the cellular device. It weighed heavily in his gloved hand, and he frowned at it. Why was there a phone here? It couldn’t have been here for seven years – this place turned into a warzone once a week, it would have been smashed or found a long, long, long time ago…

 

_“A phone? That’s impossible.”_

 

“Well, I’m looking at it,” Hibiki said, opening the device again. This time it switched on and he almost dropped it in surprise. “Whoa! What the shit? It’s still working?”

 

_“What?”_

 

Hibiki scanned the screen. There was no menu or background. Instead there was a single sentence, followed by two boxes, one of the boxes lit up with a faint pink light. Hibiki swallowed thickly.

 

**_Do you want to die?_ **

**_> Yes  
>No_ **

 

“Uh…” Hibiki leaned away from the phone, even as he held it. That was, odd… the info box on his visor was going nuts.

 

_Detecting high concentrations of Magnetite from cellular device. Unknown Energy Source. Unknown Link to Unknown Server. Unknown Connection. Unknown. Unknown. Unknown._

“Yamato…” Hibiki said slowly, “I don’t think this is an ordinary phone… I’m gonna do something.”

 

 _“Captain…”_ Yamato’s tone was a low warning.

 

Hibiki ignored him, and with a firm press of his thumb, pressed ‘No’. The screen went black and he tensed in anticipation… only for nothing to happen. For a long minute nothing happened, and he could feel Yamato let out his tension in a harsh breath over the communications when Hibiki made a disappointed noise.

 

_“You-”_

 

Yamato was drowned out when the phone suddenly flared back into life, and Hibiki shouted in surprise, leaping to his feet. He couldn’t let go of the phone, though. His fingers felt like they were glued on, and no matter how hard he shook his arm or tried to pry his fingers open with his other hand, he couldn’t… get it… off!

 

_“Captain! What is going on?”_

 

“This… it won’t… get off!” Hibiki grunted, then made a panicked noise when the phone started turning – black? No, it looked like its very existence became some other form of dimension – swiftly followed by that same blackness crawling up his arm. It felt hot and prickling, like he was sticking his hand into water filled with electric eels, and he his visor beeped erratically at him.

 

_ERROR. ERROR. USER’S VITAL SIGNS COMPROMISED. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR._

 

“Yamato! Yamato, shit, it’s _eating up my arm_!” Hibiki half-shrieked, his heart ready to pop as the odd blackness crawled higher and higher up his arm – it looked like he was becoming negative, black lines turning white, white turning black – and there on the phone, the screen was bright white, almost painful to look at.

 

_“Calm down. Use your sword.”_

 

Sword? _Sword_?! Was Yamato seriously telling him to hack off his arm?!

 

The blackness reached past his elbow, and was creeping up towards his shoulder – it looked like it was trying to make a beeline for his heart, or his head, and both of those things were very bad things to get corrupted by demonic elements. Hibiki decided that this was what this was. A demonic trap of some sort – shit he’d get corrupted and turn into a ghoul, or something shit, shit, shit-

 

Hibiki was hissing that frantically, his free hand grasping onto the hilt of his sword. It took a bit of difficulty to yank it out, and by the time it was freed from its scabbard, the blackness was half way up his bicep. Okay, he could cut it off at the elbow and have the rest of the infection stalled long enough for him to get back-

 

_ERROR. ERROR. VIRUS DETECTED IN SYSTEMS. SYSTEM COMPROMISED. SYSTEM COMPROMISED. VIRUS DETECTED. UNKNOWN ORIGINS. SYSTEM SHUT DOWN COMMENCING TO PREVENT SPREAD OF INFECTION TO LINKED USERS._

 

“ _Fuck_!” Hibiki snarled, and his visor – as well as his communication link with Yamato – went dead. All he could hear was his heart roaring in his ears, and the loud crackle of energy emitting from the phone – he refused to die! He refused to give up! Damn it! Hibiki squeezed his eyes shut and lifted the sword high – the blade was sharp as anything, it would cut through, he has to-!

 

The blackness reached his shoulder and Hibiki immediately felt like someone punched him right in the chest, gripping his heart in a vice like grip. He choked, his sword slipping from his suddenly weak grip. He heard it clang loudly as it hit the ground, and Hibiki’s knees followed swiftly after. Too late. He hesitated too long. He was going to become a ghoul. But a part of Hibiki raged against it, howling in defiance of his inevitable death, and he smashed his hand holding the phone against the ground, vainly trying to break it or _something_ , even if it would mean snapping his fingers in the process.

 

Instead the tight feeling gripping his chest vanished, and the ground lit up with a bright, rumbling roar. Vision blurred from pain and panic, Hibiki watched in awe as some sort of circle – a summoning circle, he realised belatedly – crackled to life before him, a form materialising in the centre of it. It looked like the being was being constructed out of Magnetite, but how – was it pulling it out of the air-!

 

With a roar, a Byakko lurched into being, its fur crackling with electricity and blue eyes blazing with power. The summoning circle vanished, as well as the blackness that had crawled up Hibiki’s arm. He felt drained and empty, like everything inside of him had been sucked up to power that odd summoning – but Hibiki only had a second to dwell in it. Training and experience kicked in, and he threw himself to the side – just in time to avoid the massive beast lunging at him with a furious bellow.

 

Byakko. Baihu. High levelled demon. Electricity user. Shit. And here Hibiki was weak and without his armour functioning.

 

 He staggered to his feet and turned to face down Byakko. They were both inside of the ring of light from Yamato’s floodlight, and a faint hiss of steam was rising from Byakko’s body – but it was too high levelled to be disintegrated by Holy Light. At most it was nothing more than a nuisance to it, weakening it a little. Good. Just what Hibiki needed.

 

They were frozen. Hibiki and Byakko stared each other down, neither of them budging as they waited for the other to make the first move. Hibiki went through his arsenal. His sword was beneath Byakko’s hulking body, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to get into close quarters with the beast – he would have to stay within the light as well. He wouldn’t be able to see in the darkness, but he had a sinking feeling Byakko could, and that wasn’t getting into the local demons lurking within there either. So that meant…

 

Hibiki loosened his fingers on the phone, finally able to move them – and with a sharp, swift movement, lobbed the device as hard as he could at Byakko’s head.

 

The beast roared, and the phone bounced off of its skull harmlessly, clattering onto the floor. Hibiki was already moving though, darting to the side as Byakko lunged to make chase. Hibiki ran along the edge of the light, his hand reaching down to grasp the pistol at his hip. He didn’t have his assault rifle with him – and he was sorely regretting not borrowing Yamato’s on his excursion out here, but he had no time for that. He could beat himself up once he survived.  

 

He could hear the heavy thunder of Byakko’s paws, the loud pants of the massive beast, and Hibiki could feel fear, hot and buzzing, beneath his skin, urging his aching legs to move faster. They hadn’t yet recovered from his fifty foot drop, but pain was temporary. Pain was temporary. Pain didn’t exist. Pain was a limiter.

 

Byakko was gaining on him, and Hibiki knew it was playing with him, chasing him around the large circle when it could very easily pounce and snap his neck with a clench of those jaws. He just needed to-

 

Hibiki leapt to the side in a sudden movement, hitting the ground rolling. Byakko skidded, kicking up a cloud of dirt and rocks, and Hibiki landed on his back, gun already lifted and aimed and – with a series of cracks, the gun jumping from the recoil, the bullets slammed right into Byakko eyes and the centre of his forehead. Perfect aiming.

 

The beast _screamed_ , thrashing wildly and swinging its massive head in great agony, blood gushing from the holes of its eyes. The bullet to the forehead had ricocheted off of its sloping skull, but Hibiki had blinded it, that’s all he needed. He rolled over, reaching out frantically to grab the hilt on his blade, feeling the ground tremble as Byakko charged at him, its claws gouging deep scars into the earth.

 

Hibiki’s hand closed over the blade and he rolled over onto his back – seeing fangs and a red red mouth and death roaring down on him in the form of a giant tiger- Hibiki thrust the sword up without a moment of hesitation, his arm jarring when it plunged right into the beast’s gaping maw and-

 

Claws dug right into his side, the armour giving away as easy as paper without its shields. Hibiki held back a scream of agony, clenching his teeth hard as he furiously jammed the sword deeper into Byakko’s mouth. The beast was gurgling, blood and yellow ichor oozing out of its eyes as it strained against the metal in its mouth, claws flexing deeper and deeper into Hibiki’s side until he felt like he was going to be ripped in half.

 

Then it stopped.

 

Byakko abruptly went limp, collapsing the entirety of its bulk on top of him. Hibiki wheezed, the sword snapping in two from the abrupt movement of the demon’s head. Hibiki’s arm went lax, dropping the broken hilt, and he lay there for a long moment, feeling blood gurgle in his throat and ooze out of his mouth. With a low crackle, the weight was gone, and Hibiki could breathe – only for agony to lance over his sides. Cracked ribs.

 

The moon above glared brightly down at him. It wasn’t long till full moon would hit.

 

Hibiki’s head was spinning. He was shaking violently. His armour was dead. He couldn’t communicate with everyone. He probably looked dead from Yamato’s point of view. His sword was broken. His pistol was lost somewhere. He dropped it when grabbing the sword. He was also heavily injured.

 

‘ ** _Do you want to die?’_**

 

No. No he didn’t.

 

With a whimper, Hibiki forced himself to slowly roll over onto his stomach. He heaved, blood and bile forcing itself out of him, staining the front of his visor. He didn’t care. He could barely see. But he had to live. He didn’t want to die. He pawed out mindlessly, and his fingers hit something solid. He gripped it, but it didn’t feel like his pistol.

 

He turned his head slowly, seeing the bright screen of the phone. On it, he could make out a small picture of Byakko, as well as a list of information he couldn’t decipher at that moment.

 

What?

 

Hibiki’s first urge was to crush it. Break it. Throw it. Anything for it to stay away from him, but. But… something buzzed in Hibiki’s head. He should take it. He didn’t know why he was thinking that but… probably important. Right. What if more traps like this were dotted about here…? Should at least have a reference for others, so they didn’t pick these up…

 

He closed it with shaking fingers, gripping it tight as he forced himself up onto his knees. His side felt very unstable, very wet and hot, and agonising. Everything hurt, but his side especially throbbed. He gritted his teeth and forced himself up onto his feet. No phone. No sword. He doubted he could bend down to pick anything up. If he fell down, he doubted he would get up again.

 

The wall. Right. The wall.

 

Hibiki could see the little circles in the distance. The floodlights on the walls. Right. Hibiki started moving. Every step was agony, every step made him want to collapse and scream, but he kept going, his grip unrelenting on the phone in his grasp. The light tracked his movements – so Yamato was still there and watching. Would he let him back up, though… it was obvious he had almost been infected – or had been – by… something…

 

“Captain!”

 

The voice called out to him suddenly. It wasn’t Yamato’s, and Hibiki hadn’t even reached the wall yet. He stopped, his head swinging a bit from confusion, and suddenly someone was in front of him, hands grabbing at him. Hibiki just let them grasp and pull at him. They weren’t demons. He thinks. It was hard to keep track of everything. Was he at the wall?

 

“We’ve retrieved him, sir,” the voice said, and Hibiki realised it was Makoto. “He’s heavily injured… yes, I’ll see now, sir. Captain?” Hands were on his shoulders and gently shaking him, “Captain Hibiki? Can you hear me?”

 

“Uhn…mm, yeah…” Hibiki said slowly, focusing on the person in front of him. The opaque visor concealed the person’s identity, but he definitely recognised the voice as Makoto’s. He breathed wetly. “Yeah…”

 

“He can, sir. Yes. I’ll take him to immediate quarantine. Come on, Captain.”

 

Hibiki groaned when someone picked him up, feeling a plated shoulder guard dig into his stomach. He couldn’t move to resist though, just hanging there limply with his fingers still tight around the phone in his grasp. His visor was still smeared from the blood he threw up, and the smell was starting to make him nauseous again. He held it in, though.

 

Barely.    

 

He didn’t have long to think about it though, as the tempting pull of unconsciousness finally claimed him.

 

* * *

 

 

When Hibiki woke up again he could only see the bright glare of a white, infirmary ceiling bearing down on him. Bits and pieces trickled through Hibiki’s brain; talking with Commander Yamato, going down to investigate an odd thing, the phone, Byakko, pain…

 

“You’re awake!”

 

Hibiki turned his head slightly, blinking slowly to see Otome – the Head Doctor in Tokyo-2 – smiling down at him. She looked tired, her eyes dull with weariness, and her face pale and pinched. She was wearing what looked like a hazmat suit –just without the helmet. What?

 

It was that that prompted Hibiki to take a better look at his surroundings. He wasn’t in the infirmary. It was the _Quarantine Room_. It was used when people were infected with demonic elements, and were placed here to be either cured – through amputations, exorcisms or… other means – or purged, which was the person being slotted into the incinerator at the far side of the room. They only left the room in a hazardous waste box.

 

“Yeah, this is the quarantine room,” Otome said, her smile turning a bit apologetic. “We thought it’d be prudent.”

 

Hibiki glanced downwards, and saw that his entire body was bound to the bed in thick leather straps. Yeah. Definitely the quarantine room. Hibiki fought the bubbling panic, and managed to force a smile. His left hand felt empty, and he realised the phone was gone. He felt suddenly ill at ease at the thought.

 

“So, am I going to the broiled special on the menu?”

 

“No, thankfully,” Otome said, her smile turning a bit less tired. “You weren’t possessed or infected by whatever happened. Your armour was fried though. It looked like something tried to install itself on its hardware, but was too incompatible, so your armour crashed – it was lucky it managed to shut itself down, since when we rebooted it, the… intruding programme tried to access the armours’ network to spread to the others.”

 

That was a terrifying thought, and Hibiki swallowed thickly. “Oh… what about the phone?”

 

“Phone?”

 

Hibiki stared at her. Otome stared right back at him in obvious confusion.

 

“…the… phone that summoned the Byakko? Didn’t I bring it with me?” Hibiki asked. He was pretty sure he did. Then again he couldn’t tell what was up or down at that point, so maybe it was just a rock.

 

“You didn’t have it when you were brought here, and it wasn’t mentioned to me,” Otome frowned at that, chewing her bottom lip. “Maybe they brought it to Professor Kanno? She deals with the more technical side of demonic traps.”

 

“Hm…” Hibiki could ask Yamato later. “Uh, so, um, why am I still tied down?”

 

“Oh! Well, the full moon just ended,” Otome half-laughed. She rubbed at her forehead. “After making sure you weren’t going to die, or were possessed, I… left you here to tend to the wounded. You woke up just as I came back.”

 

With that she moved and started to undo the leather straps. Hibiki took a deep breath when they were finally gone, and he sat up slowly. Every inch of him hurt, but he could breathe, and he could move well enough. He rubbed at the wrist of his left hand, staring down at it. He remembered the blackness, the electrified feeling that surged through him like he felt like he swallowed living lightning…

 

What had that been?

 

“You’re free to go back to your quarters to rest,” Otome said, “In fact, I’m _ordering_ you to,” she said, puffing her cheeks out a little. “I tell everyone to rest before the full moon, and instead they go fighting high levelled demons bare handed…”

 

“Hey, I had a pistol,” Hibiki grumbled, but he obediently slipped off of the bed. He was in a hospital gown, and he carefully kept his back facing _away_ from Otome. “Are there any spare clothes…?”

 

Otome shook her head, unable to hide her amused smile. “Sorry, you’ll have to walk in your gown.”

 

“Figures…”

 

* * *

 

 

“Never seen anything like this before. It’s interesting,” Professor Kanno said idly, her expression bored despite her words. She was seated before a massive computer, her fingers flying over the keys. On a small table, with wires linked up to it, was the phone Captain Hibiki had retrieved earlier.

 

“Interesting how?” Yamato asked, studying the small cellular device curiously. Its screen showed a picture of a demon – Byakko – with a small information box beside it. It looked to be its “stats”. Its level of strength, its class, its level, its abilities, its weaknesses and strengths…

 

“It’s a summoning device,” Professor Kanno said, pausing her typing. She turned her chair, resting her elbow on the table and her cheek on an upturned palm. She stated at the phone. “You know how we’ve managed to digitise spells and place them in our armours’ central computer? Well it seems _this_ has managed to digitise summoning spells.”

 

Yamato turned this over in his head. “Where does it get the fuel to do so?” he finally asked.

 

“Here’s the interesting part,” Professor Kanno began, “It’s also a Magnetite Converter. It creates Magnetite out of space.”

 

“…” Yamato turned to her. “Space.”

 

“Dark matter, technically,” she tapped her bottom lip, smiling a little. Her eyes were gleaming. “It creates its own fuel. Our amours eat up a lot of Magnetite to function, and we also use a lot to make our special weaponry. If we figure out how this can convert Magnetite out of nothing but _thin air_ …”

 

Yamato slowly paced before the innocuous looking phone. Professor Kanno looked like she was all but itching at the chance to take it apart, but Yamato was hesitant. This was the sole phone they had. If it broke, they would lose their chance to find out its secrets – unless they found another one laying around somewhere. Speaking of, where did this even come from? Yamato had a feeling it was specifically planted for someone on the wall to find it…

 

On the other hand, could they trust this device? It summoned a Byakko that attempted to kill Hibiki. Professor Kanno said that the demon’s data was saved within the device itself, and appeared to be bound by a digital contract to the man. In fact, that was another troubling thing – the phone had Hibiki’s personal data inside. His date of birth, his blood type, his age… Professor Kannos suggested that the phone accessed this data when it attempted to hijack Hibiki’s armour, but…

 

Yamato stopped pacing.

 

“For now, I think we will have Hibiki trial run this device in a controlled space. If this device truly can control demons, I think it will be an advantage we desperately need. We’re all but losing this battle. People are starving, and I doubt we will last another two years, three at the most.”

 

Yamato turned to face Professor Kanno, his face cold. “Too long we’ve been cowering in this hole we’ve dug. It’s time for us to gain the power needed to step out into the world.”

 

“…” Professor Kanno turned back to the computer, resuming her rapid typing. “Sure thing, Chief.”

 

Yamato stared at the phone. The image of Byakko snarled out at him. Yes. This was exactly what they needed. Now the question was, if this could indeed control demons, could they recreate something to mimic it? Adjust their armours to run its programme…?

 

For too long, Yamato felt like humanity had been on a slow but inevitable march towards utter extinction. Now, though… hah, it felt a bit corny to think this, but he could see a glimmer of light above them. A glimmer of hope. They just had to leap up and snatch it.

 

Who knew their desperately needed hope would take the shape of a _phone_ , though?


	2. Chapter 2

_“You’re an exceptional shot.”_

 

_“Yeah.”_

_Hibiki fought the urge to swallow under the weight of that eyeless stare. He fiddled with the rifle in his hands instead, more than aware of the armoured soldiers around him. The light cast from the crackling fires made their masked faces look demonic, the glare bouncing off of the glass, opaque visors. They were very still, and Hibiki could hear a faint hum whispering on the edges of his hearing. Was it coming from them…?_

_The soldier who had spoken stepped forwards. He towered over Hibiki, and he felt very very small at that moment, his hands tightening around the rifle. It wasn’t even his. He had picked it up from a fallen SDF soldier a few weeks ago, but it had kept him alive, and like hell he was going to hand over his only lifeline._

 

_“How many are with you?”_

_Hibiki paused, licking his lips. His mouth was dry though, and his head was throbbing from heat, pain, starvation, and thirst. He could barely think straight._

_“Just… two others…”_

_The soldier before him stared down at him – or Hibiki was presuming he was. The man made a gesture then, and two of the other soldiers moved as silently as ghosts, slipping past Hibiki and into the building behind him. Hibiki’s heart squeezed with fear._

_“Don’t worry. We’re taking them with us,” the soldier said. His tone wasn’t gentle or reassuring though. It was cold, like the merciless steel of his rifle. “Stand up. We need men like you.”_

_Hibiki stood up. It hurt though. His head spun. He wanted to vomit, but he doubted the soldier would take kindly to Hibiki gagging up sick on his boots, so he kept it down. His fingers trembled around the rifle, and he clutched at it so tight it hurt._

_The soldier nodded approvingly and took a step back. “You will fight with us.”_

_Hibiki said nothing._

_The soldier turned away. “We’ll fix that firing posture of yours as well. It was disgusting.”_

_Then the other soldiers closed in on him, reaching out and taking his—_

_\--_ rifle.

 

Hibiki blinked slowly as his fingers pressed against the warm metal, the cobwebs clinging tight to the insides of his skull. At first he wasn’t quite sure where he was. His mouth tasted of ash, his limbs ached with ancient pain, and for a moment he thought he was back in the old ruins of Shibuya, huddled close with Daichi and Io, their only protection an old battered rifle…

 

Then his alarm clock trilled incessantly at him, and Hibiki caught up to the present. With a groan he slipped his hand out from under his pillow and smacked at the alarm clock. It squeaked but quietened, and Hibiki lied there for a long moment, staring at the far wall. It was grey.

 

His room was pretty small. Enough for a bed and a closet, and he only managed to scavenge a single poster to put on the wall (it was of his favourite J-Pop group that was dead at this point). It was tiny and cramped, but it was his.

 

“Mm, I should get up…”

 

He didn’t.

 

Magic was a miraculous thing, but Hibiki was still feeling the effects of yesterday’s strain on his body. He felt weak and heavy, his eyelids drooping as if they were made out of lead – but as tempting as it was, Hibiki couldn’t sleep in. Yamato didn’t like being kept waiting. Well, okay, he didn’t mind waiting an hour, but any more…

 

Groaning, Hibiki forced himself up, reaching a hand up to rub his aching neck. He heard a low rumble, his room trembling a little, and smiled wryly.

 

“Ah, right on time. City’s woken up too.”

 

* * *

 

“You’re late.”

 

“Sorry, sorry,”

 

Yamato looked to be in a rather intolerable mood that morning – or rather, quite impatient. It was sort of strange, but Hibiki kept his head down and tried to look as contrite as possible. He was forgiven, as Yamato said nothing further on it, and instead pivoted on his heel, striding off into the Magic Experimentation Hall.

 

It was a room nestled deep into the bowls of the Research Facility, where they experimented with spells that had been successfully digitised. They were still working the kinks out in the battle armour, since it was temperamental about using magic more often than not. One moment it would be working, the next you’d just get an error sign… so the Magic Hall was just trying out different versions of battle armour to see what worked. Most of the time the experimentations ended with… very messy explosions.

 

When Hibiki stepped inside, the door closed behind him with a soft hiss, followed by the clang of heavy duty locks sliding into place. Hibiki swallowed a bit, his smile turning a bit nervous as he watched Yamato. The Commander was standing in the middle of the room, turning the blue phone over in his hands.

 

“…well?” Yamato looked up suddenly, “Don’t loiter by the door. Come here.”

 

Hibiki obediently moved closer. The phone was abruptly thrust into his hands once he was close enough, and Yamato immediately took several large steps backwards. Yamato’s eyes were on the phone, and the cellular device weighed a ton in Hibiki’s hands. He knew what he was to do, but he was still anxious. He had defeated Byakko in a very messy way, and demons could hold grudges like nobody’s business.

 

“In case its hostile, I will be here to strike it down,” Yamato said, as if sensing Hibiki’s hesitation. The Commander’s hand rested on the pistol at his hip, and Hibiki heard the slight creak of leather as Yamato tightened his grip on it. “Have confidence.”

 

Right.

 

Hibiki took a deep breath, and flipped the phone open. The screen was an odd menu – different folders lined in a three by three square, but the majority of the folders were greyed out. Nothing happened when he selected them, so he went immediately to the Team folder. Byakko’s data greeted him immediately.

 

He pressed his thumb against the button and held the phone up. “Alright… I’m summoning him.”

 

Yamato shifted his weight slightly into something like a battle stance, and Hibiki heard the faint hum of the Commander’s battle armour raising its shields. It probably seemed reckless, to have them summon a high levelled demon with just the two of them, but Yamato’s strength was staggering, and Hibiki knew that Yamato ate demons like Byakko for breakfast. Hopefully not literally. 

Hibiki pressed the button, and with a high pitched whine, the summoning circle burst into life. A form began to materialise, Magnetite being plucked out of the very air itself to give Byakko a physical form. Hibiki couldn’t help but watch in genuine awe, his phone lowering a little as the light of the summoning died down, and…

 

Byakko snarled when it was brought into being, its long tail lashing through the air and fur crackling with electricity. Its eyes blazed, and Hibiki could hear its heavy snorts as it stared intently at him. It didn’t seem overly hostile, but neither did it look very friendly. Hibiki could practically feel Yamato’s tension from across the room, but he ignored him, not letting his gaze waver from Byakko in the slightest.

 

“…hey…” Hibiki said gently, taking a step forwards. Byakko stilled, its eyes widening in interest. Inch by painful inch, Hibiki moved closer and closer to the demon, stretching his hand out slowly. His hair was standing on end, and he could feel a bead of sweat roll down from his temple, but he made sure to show no fear in his body language or expression, reaching out, out, out…

 

And very lightly pressed his palm against the top of Byakko’s head.

 

The fur was hot, and very soft. When no immediate bite cracked down on his wrist, Hibiki slowly started to stroke the demon’s fur. Byakko was thrumming with energy, and Hibiki saw the beast lower its head, eyes averted dismissively. A low purr rumbled from the demon’s chest, and he let out a small, relieved laugh. It was purring. It wasn’t attacking. _It was letting him stroke it_. Holy shit.

 

“Amazing…” Yamato muttered. Hibiki looked up to see that he had slid out of his battle stance, and was staring with an odd gleam in his eyes.

 

“You’ve got that right…” Hibiki found himself grinning, and he pushed it a bit further, pressing both of his hands to the underside of Byakko’s jaw and lifting the beast’s head up. Byakko obeyed the movement, and looked up at Hibiki in pure interest, its nostrils flaring from its deep, heavy breaths. Hibiki ducked his head, until he was nose to nose with the beast, able to feel its hot breath wash over him. It smelt… odd. Hibiki couldn’t put his finger on it.

 

“Geeze, I wouldn’t’ve thought you were the same demon that tried to kill me a few days ago…” Hibiki muttered, straightening up and dropping his hands from Byakko’s head. “Looks mild as a kitten. I can’t believe this… actually works…”

 

“Yes,” Yamato agreed. He was staring right at Hibiki, and he almost flinched back from the sudden, intense scrutiny. “Yes,” he repeated, the corners of his mouth tilting upwards, “Professor Kanno inspected that device further. It seems a ‘Demon Auction’ exists, although it requires Macca – demonic currency – to purchase other demons to your cause.”

 

“Macca…? So I’ll have to kill demons for it,” Hibiki murmured. Well, that was his day job, so it could’ve been worse.

 

“I hope you realise your position,” Yamato said abruptly, “You are currently the only one in JP’s who can summon and command demons reliably. Until we find a way to replicate this demon summoning programme, you’re going to be a very valuable pawn.”

 

“…right,” Hibiki said, having not thought of that at all. He was used to just being a bizarrely skilled Captain. Not too high up, but not too low. He didn’t want to be any higher than he was – imagine all the responsibilities he’d have to have? It was nerve wracking enough being responsible for the lives of those he took into battle.

 

“For now, I suggest you collect Macca and gather strong demon allies,” Yamato continued, “Once you have made a strong enough team, I want you to lead an expedition beyond the Wastelands.”

 

Hibiki stared. No one had gone beyond the Wastelands since Pre-Fall – which was seven years ago. “By myself?”

 

The look Yamato gave Hibiki could wither plants; “No,” he said, “You will have a small number of exceptional soldiers to provide back up and support. You may suggest whomever you wish, provided you don’t mind the fact that they may not survive the trip.”

 

“R-Right…” Hibiki lowered his gaze to stare at Byakko. The demon was still waiting to patient attention, ears pricked forth and gaze intent. With a small, awkward nod, Hibiki dismissed the demon, watching it slowly deconstruct into nothingness.

 

“Well, I better get started, huh?” Hibiki said awkwardly. There was an odd weight to his shoulders now, heavier than his usual burden, but he stemmed it. He had a feeling that he had just gotten himself into something big, way bigger than himself, and he simply could not shake the sensation of foreboding closing in on him.

 

“Yes. Bring some of the amateur recruits with you,” Yamato said, striding past Hibiki and to the door. “They need to bloody their claws at some point.”

 

With a click and a hiss, the door slid open and Yamato was gone, leaving Hibiki alone with his thoughts.

 

Hibiki looked down at the screen of his summoning app, slowly picking through the greyed out folders. What were these functions? Were they anything important…? Why weren’t they open for selection? Maybe whoever made this took out some functions…?

 

“…gaaah, whatever. I’ll figure it out later…” Hibiki tucked the phone away in his pocket – his battle armour still in the shop after being fried – and stepped out of the room himself. He hadn’t seen Daichi and Io in a while, and that dream he had earlier reminded him of that fact. It’d be nice to just hang out for a bit…

 

Being a soldier was extremely draining and demoralising at times. An expedition? Crazy. Absolutely crazy. But, tempting…

 

Very tempting….


	3. Chapter 3

_Yamato’s first memory was of hands hauling him out of rubble._

_How he came to be under there, and why he’d been under there… he couldn’t remember. The memories from before then were distorted with light and gold and an agony that ripped him right to the bones. He knew something important had happened, though. Those hands that pulled him out kept saying ‘Chief, Chief, Chief’._

_Chief. Chief. **Chief.**_

_In his dreams that word circled and haunted him. In his dreams Yamato could remember just a little about the Before. Pre-Fall. He remembered the light of a magic circle, he remembered the roar of a crumbling ceiling, he remembered the feeling of something ripping so deep into him he felt like his soul was split in twain-_

_He remembered a tower falling –and it was_ important  _somehow. Important. The tower was important, so Yamato, so Yamato he, he had to – there was – a substitute- no time though, the Void had been coming, and, his purpose was, the tower no longer channelled, and-_

 _Yamato would dream of something that left him cold. A figure. Its face was be obscured by distortion and it would lurch towards him, creeping closer inch by inch. Yamato woke up before it reached him. Usually. But every night it crept that little bit closer. Closer and closer. It was important. Like the light of Pre-Fall. Like the fallen tower. Like his forgotten memories. It was_ important _._

 ** _Chief. Chief. Chief._**   _The figure would hiss that and it would dig right into his ears._

 _It crept closer every night. In that dream, in this one ,it was close enough that Yamato could see past the distortion. Could feel its cold hands clench tight around his throat and he was_ choking _he was actually choking he couldn’t breathe and-_

**_“Chief,”_ ** _the figure whispered, and its face was-_

-Yamato woke up with a grunt, breathing hard as his throat ached with a deep, throbbing pain. He touched it gingerly, wincing when the pain peaked from the pressure, and tried to get his heart under control. Once he felt like it wasn’t going to explode out of his ribcage, Yamato got up slowly, feeling clammy and sick and confused.

There was a mirror set up in the bathroom – it was a small room attached to his bedroom, but it served its purpose well enough. The trip to it felt like it was an eternity though. There was a pulsing sort of pressure behind his eyes, a headache, but he wasn’t sure what the cause was. It could be a myriad of things.

He reached the bathroom and the light was switched on. Yamato paused at the sight in the mirror, gingerly touching his throat again with an agitated twist of his lips. It hurt, and no wonder. The pale skin there was black with bruises; clear handprints pressed against his neck like someone had squeezed as tight as they could.

“ _Chief_?”

Yamato almost hit the ceiling he jumped so high, and he clutched at the edges of the sink as the voice crackled again. Crackled? Yamato whirled around; spotting his helmet perched on the dresser just opposite the bathroom door. It was Professor Kanno’s voice he realised belatedly, and immediately felt foolish.

Still, Yamato felt twitchy when he moved to retrieve his helmet from the dresser. It hurt to swallow. He didn’t want to think how it would feel to speak. He could pass it off as a cold if he just kept these bruises hidden.

But…

If that figure had its hands clutched around his throat tonight, what would it be tomorrow? Yamato wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He could still remember that brief peek into its face – and it left him feeling queasy from confused anxiety.

Why would he dream of throttling  _himself_?

* * *

“You don’t have to come along, y’know.”

“I know, I know, geeze. But I can’t leave you alone for a second, can I?”

Hibiki smiled in exasperated amusement at Daichi, leaning against the door frame of his friend’s bedroom. Daichi was struggling to put on his battle armour – a more streamlined and lighter version than Hibiki’s own – but Hibiki, of course, made no move to help him.

“It’s not like I  _tried_  to get myself killed.”

“You might as well’ve,” Daichi grumbled, “Turning on a weird, unknown thing asking if you want to die…idiot…” He fastened his armour up at long last, and made a small noise, patting himself down. “Ready – ah, do you think I should bring the medi-supplies…?”

“It’s a New Moon, so there won’t be any high levelled demons out,” Hibiki said, pushing off the door frame. “You’ve got healing spells equipped anyway, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but…” Daichi looked a bit uncertain, tapping at the underside of his armour’s gauntlet. There was a small screen there, underneath a curved, protective slot of metal that listed the spells equipped for active duty. It could only have three active spells at a time, and the usage of them drained the stocked Magnetite within the armour – if the Magnetite was gone, the armour would switch off and become inoperable – as well as its shields, leaving the person inside as just a normal, squishy human. Being a magic wielder normally meant learning how to juggle magic usage, and shield necessity.

It was also why most magic users were swift, agile people like Daichi. If their armours ran out of Magnetite, they would have to rely on sheer speed to ensure their survival.

“It’ll be fine! I managed to snag Victory Cry~” Hibiki sang lightly, springing away from the doorway. He heard Daichi made an appalled noise.

“Wha- how?!” Daichi demanded, following Hibiki out of his room, only pausing to close the door, “I thought that was still in production?”

 “Well, technically it is. I volunteered to test drive it,” Hibiki said sheepishly, “But it’ll be fine! They figured out how to stop the user from getting seizures now!”

Daichi just stared at him, his lips pressed together, before he passed it off with a sighing groan. “Why do I even bother with you, man…”

“Hey, I’m not the one who wears a  _scarf_  over his armour,” Hibiki returned, puffing his cheeks out a little as he reached out to yank at said scarf. It was a bit tattered, and the yellow hue was faded with age, but it was still going amazingly strong considering it had been through every battle Daichi had been through. Honestly, Hibiki was wondering if it was made out of some indestructible material at this point.

“T-There’s nothing wrong with it!” Daichi flustered, smacking his friend’s hand away from his scarf. “Besides, you can’t talk! Bunny boy!” he grabbed onto one of the long ears on Hibiki’s hoodie, the one that he had pulled over his armour earlier that day.

“Oi oi oi oi-! You’re gonna rip it!”

“…um…”

Hibiki and Daichi paused mid-scuffle. Hibiki tried to look up from where Daichi had hauled him down into a tight headlock, but he could only see the legs of what looked to be an armoured woman. Daichi’s arm abruptly tightened around his neck, though, and Hibiki wheezed in response, slapping the flat of his palm against his friend’s back. “C-Choking…!”

“Io! Uh, oh, um, sorry, are we in your way?”

Ah, that explained the sudden tension in Daichi’s arm.

“Oh, no, but, I heard you’re going out today- um…” Hibiki saw Io’s feet shuffle a bit. “I think you’re choking Hibiki, Daichi.”

“Huh? Wha- oh!” The arm suddenly released Hibiki, and he collapsed to his knees, gripping Daichi’s leg with one hand, and supported himself on the floor with the other, taking in great gulps of air. “Shit! Sorry, Hibiki!”

“D-Don’t…worry…” Hibiki rasped, feeling Daichi’s hands flutter apologetically over his shoulders before hauling him to his feet. He let out a cough, rubbing at his throat, and managed a smile for Io. “H-Hey.”

“Hey…” Io’s face pinked a little and she smiled. It was obvious she was pretty amused by what had happened.

“Yeah, we’re going out…” Daichi mumbled, looking embarrassed. “We need to collect some Macca.”

“Macca?” Io looked briefly confused, but nodded firmly after a second. “Can I… can I come with you? I need to trial run something, and, um, it’s better to do it with a group of friends…”

“Sure,” Hibiki grinned. “Me and Daichi need to pick some things up though, so we’ll meet you on the south wall entrance?”

“Mm!” Io bobbed her head, and smiled again. “Thank you!”

With that Io swiftly left, breaking out into a light jog down the hallway. Hibiki and Daichi watched her go, before Hibiki turned to his friend with a sly grin.

“Soooo~ how about I pretend something came up, and you and Io can go out  _alone_ ~”

“Gck-! Hibiki!” Daichi hissed, his face turning a light red. “I can’t do that…”

“I’m just joking,” Hibiki said, lightly smacking Daichi’s shoulder with the flat of his palm. “I don’t mind playing wingman. Although, I don’t think having a thunder tiger out is going to make me a very good one.”

“Hahah, right…” Daichi grimaced at the thought, but he shook his head after a moment. “A-Anyway, let’s go get this over with! We can’t leave Io waiting.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

* * *

Someone other than Io was waiting for them on the south wall, though. It was Hinako Kujou. She was an interesting one, in that it was terribly hard to miss her unless you were utterly blind. She wore a battle armour, although, armour was perhaps a bit too generous. She looked like she had stepped out of an RPG game, battle bikini and all, with long cloths wrapped around her legs and her arms, a furred collar around her throat and her long hair piled up high on her head with a blue hair ornament.

She even wore stilettos.

“Ah~ if it ain’t the terrible duo!” Hinako greeted, her voice thick with Osaka-ben. She walked towards them, elegantly as always, with a pleased smile on her lips. Hibiki couldn’t help but grin in return.

“Hey, Hinako,” he lifted a hand up in a brief hello. Daichi followed suit. “What’re you doing here?”

“Nothin’, nothin’…” Hinako sighed, “New Moons are always boring, y’know? I just finished up a show in the lower district, so I decided to stretch my legs on an unofficial patrol.”

“Eh? But I thought the dance hall was knocked- erm…” Daichi trailed off awkwardly, and even Hibiki winced. Thankfully, Hinako took it gracefully, and she just laughed a little, waving a gloved hand dismissively.

“Ya don’t need a dance hall to put on a show. The side of the street’s just as good,” she said, “So where’re ya goin’?”

“For a romp outside,” Hibiki said, “Playing wingman for Daichi.”

“ _Hibiki_.”

“Oh ho… dunno if a date out in the Wastelands is romantic, but, ah, times change, huh?” Hinako grinned, the gesture looking very feline in its amusement. “Watch your backs out there, okay? I heard you got hurt not too long ago.”

“It’s fine,” Hibiki’s smile became a bit sheepishly. “Really. Thanks for the concern though.”

“Mm… see ya.”

Daichi and Hibiki watched Hinako sashay away, the clacks of her heels echoing as she vanished from sight – only to immediately hear the call of their names from behind them. They turned around to see Io jogging up to them, carrying a very large, thick weapon of some sort – it looked like a lance.

“W-Whoa…” Daichi blinked a little in surprise when Io stopped before them. She seemed a little out of breath and flushed. The lance was obviously heavy. “I didn’t know you used spears, Io.”

“Mm! It’s something I’ve been working on,” Io wheezed a little, shifting her arms to adjust the lance into a better hold. “This is what I wanted to test out with you – um, if it’s okay…”

“Sure is,” Hibiki said quickly. “Do you want one of us to carry it? It looks heavy.”

“It’s fine,” Io said, but she smiled gratefully. “I can carry it.”

With that they made their way onto the South wall proper. They had two ways of getting down –they could do what Hibiki usually did, and just jump off onto the ground below, or they could take the elevator. The elevator was slower, but Daichi raised a concern about Io leaping down carrying the heavy lance, so they decided to take it just to be safe. It wouldn’t do if Io misjudged the fall and broke her lance.

When the heavy steel doors opened, it submitted them out onto the pitch black Wastelands. The lights from the floodlights were sweeping the area, but they were flashes of white in the distance. New Moon was always the darkest of times, where you couldn’t even see your hand even if it was directly in front of your face.

“Maybe we should’ve come during middle moon,” Daichi’s voice crackled over the communications as Hibiki strode out into the blackness. He left his hoodie back in the elevator, so his shoulder guard could flip open its miniature flashlight, letting him see at least a few feet in front of him. The demon radar turned orange in response.

“It’ll be fine. We’re not going far anyway.”

They walked away from the wall for about a minute, their eyes fixed on the demon radar the whole while, until Hibiki deemed them to be a sufficient distance away. He slipped his hand into the pouch of his armour, retrieving the phone, and flipped it open. Right. He had summoned Byakko a few more times before this, but always in a controlled space, and under Yamato’s, Makoto’s, or Professor Kanno’s watchful eye.

Without letting hesitation claim him, Hibiki selected the demon, squinting when the area before them lit up with a brilliant light, Byakko materialising out of thin air. He heard Daichi and Io make anxious noises behind him, but he ignored them, letting out a breath as he lowered his hand. They managed to get the phone to stop connecting to his armour, but he was still worried it would try again randomly.

“There we go. Easy,” Hibiki muttered, half to himself as he reached out to the demon. Byakko moved to meet his hand immediately, nuzzling it. Hibiki grinned slightly, rubbing its muzzle. It was just like a giant cat… almost hard to believe that Hibiki had rammed his sword down its throat several days ago.

“Y-You weren’t kidding…” Daichi muttered, moving forwards cautiously. He remained out of arm’s reach, and Hibiki couldn’t see his face, but at least he wasn’t running away out of fear. Not that Daichi was a coward, but, Byakko was a very high levelled demon, way out of Daichi’s league (he was a combat medic, not a fighter).

“Wow…” Io’s soft voice drew Hibiki’s attention, and he turned his head to see her slowly walking towards Byakko, clutching her lance tight to her chest. She too seemed overly cautious.

“…yup. Alright,” Hibiki patted Byakko’s head and stepped back. “It’s time to go a-huntin’! I’ll go do my own thing, since I think Byakko might interfere with your lance project. See ya!”

“Huh, wha- hey! Hibiki!”

But Hibiki was already running off into the darkness with Byakko at his heels, Daichi’s annoyed shouting chasing after him. He fought the urge to laugh a little, even if what he was doing was stupidly irresponsible. Byakko was more than a match for the local demons around here, especially at full moon, and Daichi and Io could take care of themselves. They’d be fine. He’d prefer if they had quality time together anyway.

Hibiki stopped running after a bit, and stood in the middle of pure darkness, his hands braced against his knees as he breathed deeply. Byakko was prowling somewhere behind him, its claws scraping audibly against the loose dirt and stones. Right. He was here for a purpose. To collect Macca!

Oddly, the radar hadn’t changed from a light orange. Was Byakko’s presence scaring away lower levelled demons?

“Hm…”

Hibiki turned around, seeing the winking lights of the distant floodlights. So the walls were there… maybe he should just walk up and down along here until he met a demon? One had to turn up – they could never resist pouncing on a human, even if said human was armed to the teeth. Hunger overrode self-preservation, after all.

So that’s what Hibiki did. He walked and walked and walked, watching the radar fluctuate between green and orange, but never red, without neither a peep or glimpse of a demon. Byakko was looking agitated, and Hibiki wondered if there was something out there that was scaring them away, or if the New Moon just made demons extremely dopey and placid. Interesting if it was…

It was when Hibiki was ready to reopen communications with Daichi and say he was heading back that he heard it – or rather,  _felt_  it. There was a loud, crashing noise of an explosion, and the very earth rocked, the concussive force of it sending Hibiki right to the floor. He cried out in confused alarm, and in the next instant Byakko was crouched over him, electricity crackling over its fur as its head swung to stare at where the walls were.

“What the-” Hibiki groaned, tangling his fingers into Byakko’s fur and hauling himself up, following the demon’s stare. He could see fire crackling in the distance, and the wails of an alarm cut through the Wastelands, sending Hibiki’s pulse racing. Alarms? Shit, that meant there was a near breach in the wall, what the hell…

 _“Hibiki! Hibiki!”_  Daichi’s panicked voice came over communications immediately,  _“Did you see that?! Something just attacked the South Wall!”_

“Yeah, I see it!” Hibiki grunted, immediately getting to his feet and breaking into a run. Byakko raced after him. “I’m gonna engage it and see if I can help! You and Io move to the West Wall and get inside Tokyo-2!”

_“Like hell we’re letting you meet that thing alone!”_

“Daichi!” Hibiki barked, but he got no reply. Tch, he cut communications  _dammit!_

Hibiki put on an extra burst of speed, his armour humming as it enhanced his speed and endurance to meet his desperation. He had to get there before Io and Daichi. He had to. Whatever attacked the wall had to be powerful – very high levelled. Higher than Byakko – but why? They weren’t active during New Moons! They weren’t-!

The hole in the wall was massive and gaping, the pitted surface of it half caved in. Hibiki only gave it a glance over, his gaze landing immediately on the chaos happening _within_  the wall. The city’s walls were multi-layered, and it seemed the intruder had only broken through the outer one. However, if it could smash through that, it could smash through the other three walls and then, directly into the city…

The interior was a chaos of screams, fire, and gunfire. The smell of burnt flesh was overwhelming, even through Hibiki’s helmet, but he pushed through it, plunging right into the smog and brick dust. Byakko let out a bellowing roar, briefly drowning out the gunfire, before-

Another earth shattering explosion boomed, and Hibiki was thrown back from the sheer heat and power, slamming into the ground with his ears ringing. He couldn’t hear. For one horrible moment he couldn’t hear, before the slow, muted screams began. It was distant, then built up until it was piercing, the air thick with smoke. Hibiki could barely see. He reached out blindly, his fingers digging into fur, and let Byakko help him up. What was-

Then he heard it. A horrible, guttural,  _alien_  noise. Visor smeared with soot, Hibiki couldn’t make it out at first through the thick smoke. His phone beeped, and with shaking fingers, Hibiki slipped it out of his armour pouch, letting Byakko stand between himself and the… odd shape in the smoke as he glanced down at the screen.

At first he didn’t know what he was looking at. The screen showed a picture of a pink blog  _thing_  with a multi-coloured cone underneath. Next to it was a list of stats and abilities – and its name.

 ** _Dubhe_**.

The alien noise sounded out again, and Hibiki looked up slowly. The smoke had cleared somewhat, and there, before a gaping hole in the second hall, was the – the odd _creature_. Pink, undulating blob, multi-coloured cone, with piles of ash surrounding it. People. The ash had been people.

“Oh shit,” Hibiki heard himself say faintly, even as the creature’s ‘body’ abruptly doubled in side with a sickening sucking noise. The alien, gurgling noise roared out again, its cone spinning wildly as it doubled in size again, a high pitched whine beginning to build. It could explode itself? How did it-

“Hibiki!”

No. No no no.

Hibiki whirled round, and he saw Daichi and Io scrambling past the rubble from the outer wall, just as the whining noise from the creature built to almost painful levels of intensity.

“ ** _No_**!” Hibiki shouted, “Get ba-!”

With a gurgle and an alien noise of dark satisfaction, there was an unholy roar. The next thing Hibiki knew his world was of heat and pain, the ring of deafness, and the distant, muffled noise of screaming. 


End file.
